Insult and injury abound in Bruins loss to Penguins

Recap: Another matinee, another miserable
showing for the Black and Gold. Goals from Aaron Asham, Matt
Niskanen and James Neal in the opening frame staked the Penguins to
a 3-0 lead heading into the second period.

Marty Turco replaced Tim Thomas in net and Boston played
considerably better in the second. The B's got two goals from David
Krejci in the stanza, but they were sandwiched around a tally by
Chris Kunitz.

In the third, Krejci nearly had the hat trick, but a sprawling
glove stop by Marc-Andre Fleury kept the Bruins from cutting the
lead to one. With 3:53 left, Pascal Dupuis closed out the scoring
with his 18th of the season.

Records: Pittsburgh 42-21-5, 89 points; Boston
40-25-3, 83 points

Key Play of the Game: On a shift that typified
the afternoon for Boston, Brian Rolston was wide open but couldn't
corral the puck in the slot, play went the other way, Adam McQuaid
injured himself checking James Neal and Niskanen tallied to put
Pittsburgh up by two in the first period.

Connolly's Commendations: Hats off to the first
line, as the trio of Krejci, Milan Lucic and Tyler Seguin were the
only reason the Bruins had any chance in today's tilt. Krejci
tallied twice, with Lucic and Seguin picking up the assists on each
of his strikes. The three accounted for 12 of Boston's 36
shots.

Marty Turco also deserves a pat on the back. Coming in cold in
the middle frame, the veteran went on to stop 20-of-22 in his
Bruins debut.

Connolly's Critiques: Someone get Thomas some
rest, pronto. The B's netminder coughed up three goals on ten shots
after a rough outing (26-of-30) against the Capitals the day
prior.

The fourth line did zilch to aid the B's efforts in this one.
The trio of Greg Campbell, Lane MacDermid and Shawn Thornton were
all on the ice for both of Pittsburgh's first two goals. They
finished with a combined rating of minus-6. Campbell won just
3-of-10 faceoffs.

Sunday's contest was one captain Zdeno Chara would quickly like
to forget about. The 6-foot-9 blueliner finished with a game-worst
rating of minus-3 and got hit hard all afternoon by the Pens.

Notes: As if losing by three wasn't bad enough,
Boston lost three separate players to injury. McQuaid left early
with an apparent upper-body ailment, Max Sauve departed his NHL
debut and Patrice Bergeron tried to come back after sustaining a
lower-body injury after blocking a shot but eventually left for
good in the third. Johnny Boychuk also briefly went down the tunnel
after being boarded by Evgeni Malkin (three assists in the win),
but wasn't gone for long.

Final Thoughts: The tired, injury-riddled
Bruins turned in yet another dud in day games, slipping to 4-8-2 on
the year in afternoon tilts. It's safe to say Game No. 68 of the
season was rock bottom for the Black and Gold.

Next: Boston will now fly south to Tampa Bay,
where they'll take on the Lightning on Tuesday night.